Daniel J. Vecellio

@sciencedjv.bsky.social

1712 Followers 567 Following

Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I research climate and human health interactions with a focus on extreme heat. Penn State Forever.

A bike parked on top of a bridge, the Danube River and skyscrapers in the distance.
An “I Voted Today” sticker on a white polo shirt.
A bike parked in front of a baseball stadium with a roaring tiger sculpture to its left.
A bike in front of a tall building at Wayne State University.
A bike sitting on concrete with a river and a bridge in the background.
A man standing to the side of a projector screen.
Four tasters of beer lined up next to a laptop computer.
Two chairs with people seated in them on stage in front of a screen that reads “Chicago Humanities”
A shaded map of Nebraska showing temperature index values.
Me sitting on the couch behind my computer with Monty the Cat lying on a blanket on top of my legs.
A snowy street.
A picture of a weather map and a beer sitting on a table.
We are closely monitoring all federal actions that could affect the University of Nebraska, including the new announcement from the NIH. Despite the new ceiling for F&A funding, we still need to maintain our facilities, pay our utilities and take care of the day-to-day operations that keep our labs and other research facilities running. In fiscal year 2024, the total F&A costs at UNL, UNMC, and UNO amounted to $89.3 million, with $40.3 million attributed to NIH-funded projects. The university's average F&A rate is approximately 50%, though the rate varies from project to project. A reduction in the F&A rate to 15% would require the university to absorb more than $27 million to sustain its current research and facilities. This change isn’t a cost savings; it’s a cost transfer that either intentionally reduces the scale and scope of our research programs and/or shifts responsibility for F&A from NIH to Nebraska taxpayers.
Funding Obligations Individual Assistance Amount Total Housing Assistance (HA) - Dollars Approved $456,604.76 Total Other Needs Assistance (ONA) - Dollars Approved $487,484.32 Total Individual & Households Program Dollars Approved $944,089.08 Individual Assistance Applications Approved 282